 |
- While four in five business leaders (83%) believe they demonstrate emotional intelligence well, only half of employees (50%) echo this sentiment with a third citing emotional intelligence (31%) as the topmost skill leaders lack.
- Most business leaders (86%) are confident in their ability to lead effectively and achieve organisational goals, whereas only half of employees (55%) are confident in their leaders' capabilities.
- The majority of business leaders believe that they understand their employees' needs (89%) and meet employees' evolving expectations well (84%). However, less than half of employees feel the same way about their leaders.
- Nonetheless, three in five business leaders (60%) acknowledge gaps in their leadership abilities and have identified areas for improvement, but less than half (44%) have participated in leadership training in the past year, with two in five rarely attending training (39%).
SINGAPORE, May 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders today are expected to thrive in a dynamic and digitally driven workplace, while cultivating human-centric capabilities and competencies. While over four in five business leaders (11% very well, 72% quite well) believe they demonstrate emotional intelligence well, only half of employees believe their leaders possess the skill (2% very well, 48% quite well).
According to employees, emotional intelligence (31%) is in fact the top skill they believe their leaders are lacking, followed by effective communication (30%), and people development (30%).
The majority of business leaders are confident in their ability to lead effectively and achieve organisational goals (13% very confident, 73% quite confident). However, only half of employees are confident in their leaders' capabilities (3% very confident, 52% quite confident).
This disconnect between the two groups is evident in how most business leaders believe they understand their employees' needs (17% very well, 72% quite well) and meet their evolving expectations (11% very well, 73% quite well). Yet, less than half of the employees share the same sentiment, where 46% agree leaders understand their needs "very well" or "quite well", and 45% agree leaders meet their evolving expectations "very well" or "quite well".
These are some of the key findings from NTUC LearningHub's Leadership and Coaching Report, which investigates the essential skills and competencies that future leaders must cultivate, while exploring the critical role of coaching in driving individual and organisational growth across all levels and roles.
Based on a survey involving 150 business leaders and 300 full-time working professionals, the report also examines how organisations can develop and sustain strong leadership pipelines by leveraging people-centric approaches and emotional intelligence to build resilient, high-performing teams.
More than nine in ten business leaders (41% very important, 51% quite important), as well as employees (32% very important, 56% quite important) view emotional intelligence as important in leadership.
Business leaders cite the ability to communicate more effectively (55%), make better decisions (55%), be more flexible and adaptable to changes (53%), build strong relationships with employees (51%), and motivate employees more effectively (50%) as the top reasons why they perceive emotional intelligence as important for leaders. While employees voice similar sentiments, they also highlight the ability to better manage and resolve conflicts (65%) and react to challenges or highly pressurising situations calmly (58%) as other key reasons.
The perception divide also shows up in leadership styles where business leaders are most likely to apply democratic leadership (40%), followed by situational leadership (39%), and laissez-faire leadership (31%). Meanwhile, employees ranked situational leadership (44%) as their most preferred leadership style above democratic leadership (43%) and transformational leadership style (41%).
Consequently, business leaders have to contend with keeping their teams engaged and motivated (38%), managing relationships with employees (35%), and balancing performance with employee well-being (29%) in today's workplace. This is also accompanied by other challenges cited such as developing future leaders (29%) and adapting to change and uncertainty (28%).
Despite the perception divides, three in five business leaders (60%) acknowledge gaps in their leadership abilities and have identified areas for improvement. However, less than half of business leaders (44%) have participated in relevant training to enhance their leadership skills in the past year, with two in five (39%) rarely attending training. Lack of time (48%), high workload (47%), and lack of motivation (31%) are among the top challenges business leaders face when participating in leadership training programmes.
Yet, there is a desire for frequent training, as about two in five business leaders (38%) express a desire for more frequent training to develop their leadership skills. Three in four business leaders (9% very effective, 67% quite effective) also believe that the leadership training they received was effective in developing their abilities.
Commenting on the report's findings, Mr Jeremy Ong, Chief Executive Officer, NTUC LearningHub, says, "The apparent disconnect between leaders and employees highlights an urgent need for leadership to evolve in tandem with workforce expectations. As leadership expectations broaden beyond formal roles, organisations are looking to cultivate a culture where more employees feel empowered to take initiative, make decisions, and contribute to team direction. Technical skills alone are no longer enough today, as a more balanced and human-centric approach towards leadership has become a key competency that will enable leaders to adopt the right leadership approach, connect meaningfully with their team, sustain employee engagement, and ultimately drive organisational success. Therefore, it is important for leaders to continuously improve themselves through learning and development as a strategic imperative to bridge existing skills gaps and nurture future emotionally intelligent and visionary leaders".
To download the Leadership and Coaching Report, please visit www.ntuclearninghub.com/media/research-reports/2025/leadership-coaching. To find out more about the courses, training, and grants, please contact NTUC LearningHub at www.ntuclearninghub.com.
### END ###
About NTUC LearningHub
NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since our corporatisation in 2004, we have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Infocomm Technology, Generative AI & Cloud, Healthcare, Retail & Food Services, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources & Coaching and Foreign Workers Training.
To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 34,000 organisations and achieved more than 3.2 million training places across more than 3,000 courses with a pool of about 1,000 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships to offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training. Besides in-person training, we also offer instructor-led virtual live classes (VLCs) and asynchronous online learning. The NTUC LearningHub Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) — a one-stop online learning platform — offers timely, bite-sized and quality content for learners to upskill anytime and anywhere. Beyond learning, LXP also serves as a platform for jobs and skills development for both workers and companies.
For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.
Press Contact
Zulaikha Zulkiflee
Senior Manager, Brand & Communications
Email: zulaikha@ntuclearninghub.com
Steven Lee
Senior Executive, Comms & Event Management
Email: steven.lee@ntuclearninghub.com
- While four in five business leaders (83%) believe they demonstrate emotional intelligence well, only half of employees (50%) echo this sentiment with a third citing emotional intelligence (31%) as the topmost skill leaders lack.
- Most business leaders (86%) are confident in their ability to lead effectively and achieve organisational goals, whereas only half of employees (55%) are confident in their leaders' capabilities.
- The majority of business leaders believe that they understand their employees' needs (89%) and meet employees' evolving expectations well (84%). However, less than half of employees feel the same way about their leaders.
- Nonetheless, three in five business leaders (60%) acknowledge gaps in their leadership abilities and have identified areas for improvement, but less than half (44%) have participated in leadership training in the past year, with two in five rarely attending training (39%).
SINGAPORE, May 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders today are expected to thrive in a dynamic and digitally driven workplace, while cultivating human-centric capabilities and competencies. While over four in five business leaders (11% very well, 72% quite well) believe they demonstrate emotional intelligence well, only half of employees believe their leaders possess the skill (2% very well, 48% quite well).
According to employees, emotional intelligence (31%) is in fact the top skill they believe their leaders are lacking, followed by effective communication (30%), and people development (30%).
The majority of business leaders are confident in their ability to lead effectively and achieve organisational goals (13% very confident, 73% quite confident). However, only half of employees are confident in their leaders' capabilities (3% very confident, 52% quite confident).
This disconnect between the two groups is evident in how most business leaders believe they understand their employees' needs (17% very well, 72% quite well) and meet their evolving expectations (11% very well, 73% quite well). Yet, less than half of the employees share the same sentiment, where 46% agree leaders understand their needs "very well" or "quite well", and 45% agree leaders meet their evolving expectations "very well" or "quite well".
These are some of the key findings from NTUC LearningHub's Leadership and Coaching Report, which investigates the essential skills and competencies that future leaders must cultivate, while exploring the critical role of coaching in driving individual and organisational growth across all levels and roles.
Based on a survey involving 150 business leaders and 300 full-time working professionals, the report also examines how organisations can develop and sustain strong leadership pipelines by leveraging people-centric approaches and emotional intelligence to build resilient, high-performing teams.
More than nine in ten business leaders (41% very important, 51% quite important), as well as employees (32% very important, 56% quite important) view emotional intelligence as important in leadership.
Business leaders cite the ability to communicate more effectively (55%), make better decisions (55%), be more flexible and adaptable to changes (53%), build strong relationships with employees (51%), and motivate employees more effectively (50%) as the top reasons why they perceive emotional intelligence as important for leaders. While employees voice similar sentiments, they also highlight the ability to better manage and resolve conflicts (65%) and react to challenges or highly pressurising situations calmly (58%) as other key reasons.
The perception divide also shows up in leadership styles where business leaders are most likely to apply democratic leadership (40%), followed by situational leadership (39%), and laissez-faire leadership (31%). Meanwhile, employees ranked situational leadership (44%) as their most preferred leadership style above democratic leadership (43%) and transformational leadership style (41%).
Consequently, business leaders have to contend with keeping their teams engaged and motivated (38%), managing relationships with employees (35%), and balancing performance with employee well-being (29%) in today's workplace. This is also accompanied by other challenges cited such as developing future leaders (29%) and adapting to change and uncertainty (28%).
Despite the perception divides, three in five business leaders (60%) acknowledge gaps in their leadership abilities and have identified areas for improvement. However, less than half of business leaders (44%) have participated in relevant training to enhance their leadership skills in the past year, with two in five (39%) rarely attending training. Lack of time (48%), high workload (47%), and lack of motivation (31%) are among the top challenges business leaders face when participating in leadership training programmes.
Yet, there is a desire for frequent training, as about two in five business leaders (38%) express a desire for more frequent training to develop their leadership skills. Three in four business leaders (9% very effective, 67% quite effective) also believe that the leadership training they received was effective in developing their abilities.
Commenting on the report's findings, Mr Jeremy Ong, Chief Executive Officer, NTUC LearningHub, says, "The apparent disconnect between leaders and employees highlights an urgent need for leadership to evolve in tandem with workforce expectations. As leadership expectations broaden beyond formal roles, organisations are looking to cultivate a culture where more employees feel empowered to take initiative, make decisions, and contribute to team direction. Technical skills alone are no longer enough today, as a more balanced and human-centric approach towards leadership has become a key competency that will enable leaders to adopt the right leadership approach, connect meaningfully with their team, sustain employee engagement, and ultimately drive organisational success. Therefore, it is important for leaders to continuously improve themselves through learning and development as a strategic imperative to bridge existing skills gaps and nurture future emotionally intelligent and visionary leaders".
To download the Leadership and Coaching Report, please visit www.ntuclearninghub.com/media/research-reports/2025/leadership-coaching. To find out more about the courses, training, and grants, please contact NTUC LearningHub at www.ntuclearninghub.com.
### END ###
About NTUC LearningHub
NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since our corporatisation in 2004, we have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Infocomm Technology, Generative AI & Cloud, Healthcare, Retail & Food Services, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources & Coaching and Foreign Workers Training.
To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 34,000 organisations and achieved more than 3.2 million training places across more than 3,000 courses with a pool of about 1,000 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships to offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training. Besides in-person training, we also offer instructor-led virtual live classes (VLCs) and asynchronous online learning. The NTUC LearningHub Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) — a one-stop online learning platform — offers timely, bite-sized and quality content for learners to upskill anytime and anywhere. Beyond learning, LXP also serves as a platform for jobs and skills development for both workers and companies.
For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.
Press Contact
Zulaikha Zulkiflee
Senior Manager, Brand & Communications
Email: zulaikha@ntuclearninghub.com
Steven Lee
Senior Executive, Comms & Event Management
Email: steven.lee@ntuclearninghub.com
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Employees cite 'emotional intelligence' as key leadership gap, highlighting disconnect at the top
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Elitery Global Technology Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of PT Data Sinergitama Jaya Tbk, proudly announces that it has been awarded the prestigious Malaysia Digital (MD) Status by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). This recognition marks an important milestone in Elitery's regional growth journey and reaffirms the company's commitment to advancing the digital economy through innovation, technology excellence, and strategic collaboration. The MD Status, conferred by the Government of Malaysia, is awarded to companies that meet stringent criteria in driving approved digital activities and contributing to the nation's digital transformation agenda.
"Receiving the Malaysia Digital Status is a major milestone for Elitery Global Technology Sdn. Bhd.," said Kresna Adiprawira, Director of Elitery Global Technology Sdn. Bhd. "This recognition not only validates our current digital initiatives but also opens up greater opportunities to accelerate our growth, enhance our capabilities, and strengthen our contribution to Malaysia's digital ecosystem."
The MD Status provides Elitery access to key incentives and privileges under the Malaysia Digital Bill of Guarantees (BoGs). These benefits include the flexibility to hire both local and foreign talent, full freedom of ownership, and the ability to raise and borrow capital globally to support its expansion across the region. Furthermore, the company is allowed to invest in foreign currency assets both in Malaysia and abroad, enabling stronger business diversification and growth. Beyond financial advantages such as income tax exemptions and investment tax allowances, the MD Status connects Elitery to Malaysia's thriving digital ecosystem through business-matching initiatives, partnership opportunities, and grant facilitation.
This recognition will empower Elitery Global Technology Sdn. Bhd. to expand its digital product portfolio, invest further in local talent, and strengthen its presence across regional markets. As part of this commitment, the company will continue to uphold full compliance with all MD Status requirements, including the annual submission of the Self-Declaration Form (SDF), ensuring sustained alignment with Malaysia's digital economy standards.
About Elitery
Elitery (IDX: ELIT) is a premier IT Managed Services provider specializing in cloud and cybersecurity. A strategic Google Cloud partner and two-time Public Sector Partner of the Year (2023-2024), ELIT leverages 14+ years of expertise to drive secure digital transformation across Asia-Pacific.
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
A New Era of Digital Innovation: Elitery Global Technology Sdn. Bhd. Granted Malaysia Digital (MD) Status
